TAWOG: The Ninja-Season 1
by Bandanacat
Summary: Gumball wants to be accepted more, and end his troublemaking ways, and finds his answer to those dilemmas in a strange ninja costume he scrounges up one day. Elmore gains a hero, but Gumball must balance his heroics with family and school life, as well as face two terrible nemises. USERNAME CHANGED TO Bandanacat
1. Prologue-The Bolt

Hi universe! Before I start, I will note that part of this title, and probably some elements of this story are taken from 'TAWOG-The Ninja' by another storyteller named 'Timelocker.' I do not have permission from him to use the elements from his story that helped inspire this, but I will try and keep this unique from Timelocker's story. I have quite a few ideas for this that can make this story interesting and somewhat original. Don't get me wrong, I will try and keep this different from the other story, but I will say that there are things that are inspired by Timelocker's work. Please don't report me, and give this story a chance, it won't be a complete rip-off. With that in mind, go enjoy the story!

*

 _PROLOGUE_ _: THE_ _BOLT_

Life was hard for Gumball Watterson. It wasn't that way physically, his family raked in enough money from his mother's job, and he had Darwin and Penny as friends, but he felt emotional disappointment. Just in the last week, he had finally realized his standing in Elmore, and in his family. At the beach, he had seen Darwin, his adoptive fish brother wade into the water without a problem, even walking in the deeper areas underwater as if he were strolling around regularly on land. The next day, Gumball had heard Anais relay a million complex codes ro fix the junky old computer in his room like it was small talk to her. His Mom had punched holes in the wall at Joyful Burger when a shoplifter scurried by, stopping the petty thief in his tracks. Even Dad had something special, the same day at Joyful Burger Gumball's father had eaten a literal ton of Joy Dogs, and gulp 10 whole gallons of Happy Cola!

While it might make one proud to be part of a family with amazing powers, Gumball felt rejected and left out. His brother was amphibious, his sister was incredibly smart, his Mom had anger powers, and his Dad could anything and everything without hesitation! And while he had witnessed all those abilities displayed, he was saddened that that was half of all he was in the family, a mere spectator.

The other half of him was the schemer, the planner, the devious mastermind. While he hadn't made a big, terrible crime, he was somewhat notorious city-wide for his crafty-antics. He often duped Darwin into going along with his get-out-of-school-early ideas, and the usual get-rich-quick deal. Gumball was stubborn, crafty, and ungrateful, and he knew it. He had always known his crafty-side existed, but never admitted it out loud. But as he was a growing boy who was maturing and becoming more aware of things, one reality he faced was his deviousness.

Gumball Watterson was a watcher, and a planner, always was, but he wanted to end that side of his personality. If only he could had some good quality, or awesome power, he could do more, be more. Currently, the 12 year old had gone for a walk to think, despite the drizzly rain outside. As he walked, Gumball spoke to himself, expressing his frustration and desire, "I'm always the stinker, the crafty one, the stubborn one. I keep tricking my brother get other people into my messes. I wish I could have something more special other than being crafty, I just want to stop being a troublemaker and be someone better!"

As he wandered down the damp sidewalk, Gumball spotted something at a nearby bus stop. Running over, Gumball examined what he had noticed, it appeared to be some sort of cloth, and it looked like it was clothing too. Gumball stared at this strange find, partly wondering what this was, partly wondering why he had suddenly taken interest in a suit that some weirdo dumped at a bus stop.

The garment seemed to be a ninja suit, it was black with a little blue on it too. The fabric seemed durable, yet soft. It had no empty part in the face for eyes, but was replaced with a full-face mask with two blue-colored eye parts. The suit looked pretty impressive, though it had a strange energy emitting from it. The aura had a strange feeling on Gumball's hand, it made him even more curious. After scanning the area for a potential owner, the little cat looked back to the ninja suit. "Hmm... Well, I could show this off sometime maybe, it'd be fun to wear..."

Gumball took the suit from the bus stop, returning his thoughts to his irritating knack. But as he walked again, Gumball looked to the cloudy sky. Thunder had been rumbling for a while, and lightning started striking just a minute or two ago. The lightning came closer to Elmore, Gumball thought it best to return home. As the blue feline ran through the side roads of the neighborhood, the lightning came closer still, it seemed to be following him, as if it had a mind of it's own. Realizing his danger, Gumball sprinted towards home, panting with each scared step. As he was about to turn the corner onto his street, the thunder became extremely loud to Gumball. The noise overwhelmed him, as he covered his ears, he was distracted by the thunder. But as he regained his bearings, Gumball's fear of the terrible noise shifted away to a dismal scream coming from his open mouth and to fear of a lightning bolt, cutting through the sky straight towards him! Gumball felt himself bathed in the energy from his newfound treasure, and felt a pain rip through him as the bolt struck him in a fiery blow! Reality became a yellow-white series of flashes around Gumball, searing pain singed him, then the world went black.


	2. Chapter 1-The Discovery

_Hi! Here's the first chapter of the story._

 _CHAPTER 1: THE_ _DISCOVERY_

Gumball awakened from his resting place on the paved sidewalk close tp his house. He had been struck by lightning after he had found a strange piece of clothing while on a walk. He felt a woozy, dizzy feeling from getting hit by the bolt. Fortunately, he had no serious injuries (he is a cartoon character after all), and sat up with aches in nis spine. "Ugh... What was that?' the 12 year old wondered. Remembering the suit he had scavenged from the bus stop, Gumball looked frantically around him, but the oddity lay nowhere near. Even more bitter now at his loss, Gumball yelled at the sky, "It's gone! Augh! Why?!?" Getting back on his feet, the sad little kitten trodded grumpily back home theough the still pouring rain.

 _LATER THAT EVENING..._

Gumball had returned home, but hadn't told anyone about his encounter. He had eaten dinner as always, and had gone up to his room. He started playing games on the practically ancient computer in his room. Although his mom had noticed he had started some games, she let him go anyway, letting him let out his frustrations through whatever virtual world he was playing.

Gumball sat alone for an hour or two, the rest of the family was watching some movies on thursday night as they did now and then. In an online battlefield, The blue cat was at the helm of a small spaceship, he was streaking through space down into the black tunnel of an asteroid base. Other craft followed his, unfriendly ones. "Rrrgh! Come on..." Gumball grunted, he had been rather gloomy in recent days, though he hadn't really tried to show his emotions, and this victory, however temporal or insignificant, could give him a little cheer in his rather frustrated state. As the ship he controlled closed in on target, taking damage from it's virtual pursuers, thousands of complicated calcutations rushed through Gumball's head. Just as it seemed his spacecraft was finished, the feline gained a heightened sense of coordination and focus. Going with this strange feeling, the online ship zoomed through a health pickup on-screen, screamed through the last of the long, dark bowels of the pretend corridor. Two quick volleys of lasers, and a cutscene played, soon showing in bright yellow letters: VICTORY!

Gumball was overjoyed! The little win he had scored lifted his spirit! Also lifted was his curiosity.

Two pleasantly-colored blue paws were brought to face feline eyes, "What just happened?" Gumball was briefly dumbfounded, but then had a theory to test. "Was that... something connected to that suit? Or was it dinner? Whatever Mom's been making must be turning me into a mutant."

In any case, more games were played, aand every time there was a crucial moment in the match, Gumball felt the strange senses kick in. After three more miraculous wins, Gumball stood on the floor of his room, thinking to himself, _"If I focused hard enough, could I jump and touch the ceiling?"_ A quick jump proved he possesed not only increased senses, but better agility and strength when he busted a hole in the ceiling!

"Gumball! Don't make a ruckus up there!"

Gumball was stuck in the roof of his room, he had felt what seemed like cloth, like that he had run his fingers on with the curious suit on the bus stop. It seemed that the black ninja suit had wrapped around him from nowhere, and maybe was what was giving it's wearer greater focus, strength, speed, everything physical was strengthened

. thud sounded as the youth fell back into the soft carpet. In shock, the speechless blue cat looked at his paws again. The black cloth 'unfolded' into nothingness. _"That lightning... and that suit... they must've fused to me somehow..."_ After just laying processing all that had happened that day, fear and shock turned to wonder and excitement. Gumball whispered to himself "This. Is. Awesome!"

 _THAT NIGHT..._

Gumball lay in bed, sleepless because of what had transpired in just a few hours. Darwin slept in his little fishbowl as he always did, moonlight reached from the cosmos to the floor of the Watterson boys' room... All was as it usually was, except Gumball now realized he had gained strange new powers. Contemplating what to do about the newfoind abilities, the cat thought back to his family's talents.

Mom had anger powers and martial arts, Darwin was amphibious, Dad could eat everything, and Anais was super smart. Until that night, Gumball had few useful capibilities, and was always cooking up something fishy. But now... what to do with what he now had? Darwin never really acknowledged his power, and it rarely came into play. Mom used her anger or karate stuff only in moments that made her extremely mad. Though those incedents came up fairly often, she rarely used them for a good purpose. Dad... well... sure he could eat a boatload of food, but that would take forever, even for him, and it's not that useful. Anais puts her humongous intellect to work all the time, but she only used her knowledge to solve a problem at hand, not usually to attain world peace or send a mission to the moon. So the rest of the family had mostly interesting powers, but they didn't really use them for anything useful, excepting Anais.

Gumball was aware of his crafty nature, and wanted to grow out of it. He now realized these amazing new abilities could be the means he did good more. The ninja suit was what he use to become something more. With his new hope, the blue feline rolled around in his bed and stared at Darwin. With a feeling of pride, Gumball whispered to his brother, "Don't worry buddy, I got something special now too."


	3. Chapter 2-The Appearance

Hi Fanfiction readers! Here's the next part.

Chapter 2: The Appearance

It had been a week since Gumball's encounter with the lightning and the strange ninja costume he had found. He hadn't mentioned the incident ro anyone else, and had spent some of his downtime, out of sight, to discover and hone his amazing new abilities.

Penny, a good friend of Gumball's was a shape-shifting fairy, and could give him advice on having extraordinary powers. However, the twelve-year-old feline didn't ask her about the matter, not for fear of her freaking out when he broke the news, but actually more for emotional reasons. Not wanting to be 'special like everyone else,' tied with the possibility of his parents putting rules on the usage of his capabilities, as well as wanting to be independent, and letting his hopefully 'secret identity' add to his 'coolness,' kept Gumball from telling anyone.

After a week of secret training, the powers were becoming more and more easy to utilize, but there was a long way Gumball had to go before he felt he would be ready. Despite the progress, it was rather slow getting to fhe point he thought it best to show his new self.

Now at Elmore Junior High, Gumball was walking out of school. No one in his class had suspected his miraculous change, neither did his superiors. Darwin was hanging out with some of his friends outside the main entrance of the building, Gumball called out to his brother "I'm gonna head home!"

Darwin paused his conversation with his buddies to respond, "Okay! I'll work my way back a little later!"

With that, Gumball strolled off homeward.

Despite going back in the direction of his house, Gumball wasn't about to go straight there. When he was in a more quiet part of town, the blue cat calmly walked into a dirty alley. Out of sight of any onlookers, he mentally concentrated, and coal-black threads began to weave themselves together. The quick transformation left a dark black suit with blue parts on it, with Gumball as it's wearer. The dark-costumed feline began to do backflips, parkour moves, and acrobatics to improve his control over his power of agility. A little later, he worked his way to a vacant junkyard, and used the weathered cars inside to work on his strength.

Later coming back to the alley, Gumball noticed something suspicious. As he drew closer, he saw that some sort of fingerprint guy was robbing Mrs. Parham (the orange whatchamacallit) and her son, Billy (the blue egg kid)!

"Noooo!! Please don't!" yelled Mrs. Parham.

The fingerprint bandit retorted, "Whatcha' gonna do about it lady? This is mine now!"

Little Billy walked in front of his scared mom, "Have no fear mother! I shall deal with this foolish desperado!"

The crook looked at the boy with a confused look on his face.

Billy squinted his eyes, speaking in a low voice, "You've forced me to use violence..."

Dramatically, the blue egg (Billy) charged at the robber, and began to furiously thrash his skinny arms at his assailant. Unfortunately, this did nothing to stop the fingerprint man.

Gumball wasn't quite ready for the coming task he was about to face. He wanted to go through some more training, as he didn't have total control of his power. The cat thought to himself _"I can keep my costume, so he won't figure out who I am, but if I can't keep everything else under control, my identity wouldn't even matter once I'm beaten up."_ Deciding it was his turn to take a shot at the crook, Gumball shouted to the fingerprint bandit "Hey!"

The evildoer whipped around, startled. But once he saw the rather stout figure of a costumed cat, his surprise dried up. The fingerprint guy sneered, "Is that get-up supposed to scare me!?"

Gumball squinted his eyes, shouting back, "Yes!"

Giving a slight chuckle at the kid's appearent stupidity, the fingerprint robber taunted, his arms apart, "Then come at me, kitty boy!"

Angered at the command, the blue-black cat sprinted at an unusually quick pace. The fingerprint man brandished a small club, evidently planning to use it on his attacker. Gumball continued his run to the crook, and when the bandit swung his weapon, Gumball ducked the blow, narrowly missing the stick. _"Too close!"_ the ninja-suited boy surmised. Not taking a moment to stop, the crook took another attempt to smack his opponent. Gumball jumped, although a little to high, to the top of the building bordering one side of the alley. The blue cat got shaken-up a smidge by the unexpected place of landing. Backflipping down to the alley, Gumball swung his foot around the fingerprint crook. The bandit was thrown off balance, and suffered a quick, meaty punch from the budding hero. Gumball took the stolen items from the now unconscious fingerprint robber, and returned them to the Parhams. The black-suit ed feline leaped up to the top of the building again, but before he took off, Mrs. Parham called after her protector, "Wait, who are you?"

"The Ninja!"

"Really?!"

"Well... That's kinda all I got right now!"

Ending his unexpected inaugural outing as a hero, Gumball took off towards home, for real this time. For some reaseon though, the returning cat couldn't help but feel something in his brain, seeming to be pushing to get physically out. Dismissing it as a headache or something simple, Gumball continued home, full of wonder for his prematurely started new career...


	4. Chapter 3-The Opinions

_Hi Universe! Just a little note, the previous chapter was titled 'Part 2' or something like that, that was a little mishap, I will (If I can remember to keep the titles the same) keep recording this story in chapters, not parts (sorry). So anyway, I hope you're liking this story so far, and here's the next part!_

 _Chapter 3: The Rise_

We open not with Gumball's current status, but rather with a news report. On channel 6, Elmore News is playing on hundreds of TVs across the city. After going through three hours of fancy CGI animations, the actual newsroom appears, a paper man waves his hand at the makeup artist with their brush floating near the annoncer's face. Finally ready to give the scoop the paper guy speaks, "Good evening! I'm Kip Schlesismengeranerwooperayve'amakawitz, and THIS. IS. ELMORE. NEWS!" He continued, as a small on-screen box appeared with footage playing in it, "It's been three days since the emergence of a strange do-gooder who claims the name 'The Ninja,' and we've now just seen his second appearence. We have reports he is at the Elmore bank, and our field reporter, Mike, is on site. Mike?"

The image of Mr. Schlesaquegelmenahowitdozthatt and the vox with footage cut away abruptly, replaced by a microphone correspondent, he reported, "Hello Kip! We are on the scene of what seems to be an attempted robbery of the bank. There are three felons involved, and apparently fighting them is a black-suited cat, the one that was seen three days ago stopping a petty thief."

Kip's face comes into view in another box, "Yes, and what's going on right now?"

"We can't quite get a good look at the action from here, but we can see better with our eye in the sky!"

Mike produced an eyeball from a pocket, and tossed it high into the air. From it is broadcasted a furious fight between the Ninja and the crooks. It is mostly a life-or-death struggle, though the tussle devolved into slapping hands for a while, and it continues for a while longer before the focus returns to the two newsmen.

Mr. Schlesobehgamanerjup makes a statement, "So what do we know about this mystery ninja Mike?"

"Well, his seemingly- Wait, wait! We just recieved word that the robbery has been foiled! Just a minute..."

After a minute or two of on-screen running, the camera focuses on the front entrance to the bank. The aforementioned trio of criminals is wrapped up with rope, and standing over them is the cat that first appeared just days ago! After writing his alias "The Ninja" in puffs of smoke that seem to materialize out of nowhere, the feline hero jumps to a rooftop and bolts away to parts unknown.

"Wow! An amazing an quick clean-up of crime by... Thelphihan?" Kip's voice trails off in confusion as the smoke meshes together as it fades. Mike corrects his counterpart's misspelling, "The Ninja. This is his second time stopping evildoers. Whoever he is, Elmore can be assured it has a new protector!"

Now outside of the news report, we see the Ninja sprints and jumps across the buildings of Elmore. The running continues to a nice, humble little suburb of the town, and the hero drops down to ground level in a private, out-of the way spot. With no one around to see him, the Ninja mentally concentrates, and his black-blue threads unravel into thin air, leaving a tan-sweatered, blue cat, Gumball Watterson. He sighs and smiles, satisfied at his work. As his regular self, he walks plainly toward his house.

Not long after his transformation, Gumball arrived at his home. Darwin and Mr. Dad are lounging on the couch watching the newspeople discuss the recent appearences of The Ninja. "Hey dude." Darwin greets casually.

"Hey." Gumball responds.

Anais and Mrs. Mom are present too, they come out of the kitchen to see the TV too. Gumball says hi to them also. The family quickly becomes glued to the television's speelbinding programming, they watch the discussion going on in the newsroom. Darwin is the first to comment, "Man! We got a superhero in our town? How cool is that!? I wish I could be a cool guy like him!"

Gumball felt a strange feeling, he knew his brother pretended to 'look up' to him in public. But in truth, Darwin was too smart to want to copy his mischievous friend. The only reason Darwin went along with the assumption of Gumball being his role-model was that, as an adopted kid, he was still struggling to find find his own identity, to not just be Gumball's shadow. Darwin's claim to want to be a hero of some kind like the one Gumball was becoming could just be a little expression of excitement, with no actual push to copy the Ninja's budding stardom, but maybe Darwin was legitimately aspiring to find his own persona in the form of being the hero.

Mrs. Mom looks at the pictures taken about the new do-gooder, adding her own opinion, "He seems awfully young. I'd be careful about letting him go out and fight if I knew him."

Gumball felt a slight sting at his Mom's over-protective attitude, sure she didn't the boy on the screen was him, but he was saddened by her appearant unimpressed stance.

Mr. Dad chimed in, "I wish I could be fit and trim like him."

"Dad, to get down to a fitness level to do what that guy does, you'd have to unload a dumptruck loaded with your pounds!" Anais asserted.

"But what if I am him?"

Everyone but Mr. Dad rolled their eyes at his goofy claim.

Anais gave her own thoughts as some footage of the Ninja fighting played, "He's sloppy though. He's probably new to all this parkour and karate stuff, but he has a long way to go if he wants to get real good."

Trudging up the stairs, aware of his family's opinions on his secret new life, Gumball fell into deep thought, but then to sadness. Frustrated at his Mom's slight disapproval, his brother's potential to get hurt following his somewhat new role-model, his sister's usual knack for criticizing his every move, and Dad, well, he was okay. But still, Gumball was finally being more than just a troublemaker, and his family wasn't taking it the way he hoped they would. Of course, they didn't know the emerging superhero they saw on TV was their son/brother, and Gumball didn't want to break the news it was him, partly because of his somewhat selfish desire to be 'cool' and independent , and also because of the more practical fear of some criminal figuring out his other alter ego. The once again dejected cat slumped down in an upstairs closet. Gumball wept bitterly, and again, the headache he had felt the first day he quashed an evildoer rumbled through his mind. Though he sensed it in his cranium, Gumball payed more notice to his disappointment. In the closet, as he wept, The Ninja realized that having powers couldn't make everything better. The ache subsided as Gumball's tears ended their flow. Gumball vowed to work, work hard, and work to become what his family wanted, so they would be finally, in a way, impressed with him. Gumball left the closet, ready to become fhe cat his family wanted, and the hero Elmore needed (well maybe not too much, everything seems to right itself in an episode or two).

 _Heyyy... So that's the next part! Just a note, I realize that I've been posting the chapters as separate stories, but I will continue unless a lot of people get up-in-arms about it. Once this arc or 'season' is finished, I will compile all the parts and put them into one big, complete story. I will still bill the chapters as chapters so it's not like I'm giving you a whole stoey that turns out to be just a chapter. Please give a review, and I hope you're enjoying this series! -G.W._


	5. Chapter 4-The Self

_Hello! So yeah here's the next chapter. I'm excited to get the story real interesting!_ _Sorry this took a while, wasted time, sorry about that. One thing, one scene gets pretty intense, I won't have blood in this story, but the scene between the part 'That. Headache.' and 'I... Have... Returned! gets pretty vivid. Here you go!_

 _Chapter 4-The_ _Self_

Gumball stood atop a building in downtown Elmore, and he felt the same old headache return. He pushed it back down, beginning to see a connection with his powers and the ache. He wasn't sure if it was a side effect of gaining his powers or what, but he couldn't ponder that at the moment.

It was night. Everyone at home would be busy or asleep, giving Gumball an easy time to sneak out to fight evil. He dropped down to the cracked asphalt, and willed the black threads he was still mastering to wrap around him.

A quartet of crooks turned to see what had made a landing noise near them. The cat that had been gaining notoriety with the criminals of Elmore was there, ready for a tussle. To meet their opponent, all four evildoers pulled out guns! Water guns... Anyway, they opened fire, well, opened water... In any case, The Ninja ducked the wet shots fired at him, though he did take a hit from one. Taking a blow from one opponent, Gumball recovered quickly and kicked the baddie. Tumbling down, the crook's head crunched the delicate feet of another foe. Letting out a long shout, that criminal was quickly dealt with by Gumball, who used a well-placed punch to render his adversary unconscious. The other two felons squirted their water pistols at The Ninja, they hit him. As Gumball writhed in pain in an overdramatic matter, the pair of ne'er-do-wells made a break for a van parked nearby, sprinting for all they were worth! When the duo reached the vehicle, one jerked violently on the handle to a door. Nothing happened. "Gahhh! It's stuck!"

"It's not ours, we don't even have a key, what did you expect?"

The Ninja ran up to the two crooks and worked his karate magic on them. As the police arrived to arrest the devious Guys Who Don't Tip Gang, The Ninja stood triumphant, waiting for the press to get some snapshots of him of course, before disappearing into the dark hazy clouds of the night.

 _The next day..._

Gumball walked into Elmore Junior High with his siblings Darwin and Anais tiredly. Anais quickly veered to the right hall, she said her goodbye to her brothers and wandered to her classroom. Gumball stared at his sister for a little while after she turned down to the hallway. His injuries from the night before were still a little sore, but not severe enough tomland him in the hospital, or to have his class get overly suspicious of him. Anais was right, he was sloppy, even with another week's training he was still taking some hits. Of course, he was getting better, little by little, but he feared Anais would never be completely satisfied with him.

Saving the Parhams, that was it. It was his descision to cut the uninterrupted training to save the Parhams that threw him prematurely into the chaos of stopping Elmore's crime regularly. Gumball knew it was the right choice, but he still wished his power could be fully developed, so he could impress his family and classmates straight out the gate. His parents and siblings' opinions on his heroic alternate self were mostly still the same. Mom's view was the only one that had drastically changed, she focused on his blunders like Anais. Dad was still the same in his thoughts on his son's secret alter ego. Anais was still nitpicking the frequent mistakes the Ninja made. Darwin however, his standing with his brother's other life was worrying to Gumball.

Darwin was still obsessed with the Ninja, reading up about his latest appearence, buying whatever new item with the Ninja's face on it was at the store, even showing off his muscles in the mirror. Though it was nice someone truly admired him, Gumball was worried his fish brother would try to become a hero of his own. Apart from the more serious matter of Darwin not being able to make it alone and getting real hurt, there was Gumball's more selfish ideas of losing his uniqueness as Elmore's sole super-powered protector, it would be more frustrating to him if the newcomer to herodom was from his own kin. Gumball had only tried to deter Darwin a little, not wanting to crush his brother's dreams.

"You okay? You look kinda tired." Darwin derailed his cat brother's train of thought.

"Me? Oh. I just had a hard night." Gumball replied.

"And you look a little beat-up. What happened?"

"Well..."

At this time, the two Watterson boys were in their classroom when they were talking, and Ms. Simian walked in and began their lesson for the day. This cut short Darwin's inquiry, much to Gumball's relief. A few minutes later, Gumball glanced quickly at his brother and his classmates close by. Darwin seemed to have forgotten his question, and the class didn't seem to be curious either. Gumball rested his nerves in that summary, and drifted his cares toward school...

 _Lunchtime, the schoolyard..._

In the yard, the kids had been talking nonstop about the Ninja, most of it positive. Gumball was comforted that there were some people who admired his work, thohgh theu weren't usually on hood terms with their feline classmate. Gumball lay down on a metal bench to rest a little before the next class began.

Before long, Penny sat near him with a strange look on her face. "Hi Penny. What's up?" said Gumball.

"The Ninja." Penny replied.

"Uhhh... What about him?"

"I wanna find out who the Ninja is!"

Alarmed that his close friend was trying to find out the Ninja's true self (Gumball himself), Gumball responded again, "What would that do?"

"Bad guys can find where he lives and catch him off guard."

"How would that help anything?"

"Well, you'd also be able to get the plushie with the mask, and one without."

"Oh, okay." Gumball said, dropping his worried nature.

They continued their talk for a while, but Penny seemed to push the point she wanted to know more about Elmore's hero (but not actually get bad guys to catch him off guard). When they parted ways, Gumball's dismay at his friend and family's relations with his alternate self grew. _"Why can't being able to punch someone's lights out make everything easy?"_ Gumball felt frustration well up in tears, but being in public, he forced the drops down. He went on his way, convinced more than ever he needed to train harder, and become what everyone wanted him to be.

 _That Evening-Watterson House_ Gumball and the rest of the family were lounging in front of the old Soppy TV set they possessed, flipping through the channels at lightning speed, Mr. Watterson's TV-velocity gained the frustration of Mrs. Mom, "Ugh... Richard! How can you tell what's on at this speed?"

"I can't. My finger muscles are the fastest-working ones I have. Using them makes me feel good about the only physical strength I have."

"Well, at least it's not bringing about some terrible problem with the TV."

Meanwhile in Tahiti, a giant tiki robot emerges from the ocean, "I... have... awakened!"

Anyway, back at the Watterson residence... The channels were still furiously blazed through by Mr. Dad. Gumball's super-senses caught a short news report, even as his father's speedy merry-go-round of television spun fast. This is what Gumball took in from the news: "Kip Schlesismegenershultz here! We have some breaking news, we recieved this video footage mere minutes ago, and shall play it in hopes of the Ninja watching this and taking action." The footage appears, Rob is on-screen, standing near a store familiar to most of Elmore, "Hello Ninja, wherever you are. You see this store? It's the Food n' Stuff, the pride and joy of Elmore. If you don't come and face me, this store, and all the cheesy, sweet, unhealthy food inside..."

Rob makes a hand motion that resembles an explosion, "Boom."

Without a word, Gumball races to his room. He writes a note saying he had a school thing going on. Hoping it will be enough to keep his secret, the blue-furred boy wills his suit to wrap around him, and slips out the window.

 _Minutes later..._

Gumball, in the guise of the Ninja, hits the pavement near the Food n' Stuff, hard. He's none too happy about Rob's threat, he craves the spicy, sour, fat-laden 'food' the establishment provides, and getting little rest and being emotionally dowtrodden adds to his contained fury.

Rob turns to meet his adversary, "Ah. I thought you'd never come."

The Ninja cuts the chatter, "Uh huh. How do you plan to blow up the Food n' Stuff?"

To meet that inquiry, the staticy guy pulled out The Remote! The Remote was a device that contained the power to alter reality, and possibly held other unknown capabilities. The Ninja gasped in terror! Rob aimed the potent stick at his opponent, and let loose a bright light! Jumping back, the Ninja asked, "How can you do that?!"

"I've been experimenting with this baby. And let me tell you, this is like nothing you've seen before!"

 _"Oh yeah?"_ Gumball thought in his tensioned mind. Despite Rob's apparent ignorance to his enemy's identity, Gumball had faced Rob and the Remote before. Though he didn't know everything that the deadly electronic was capable of, but he knew how to turn it off, after all, it was like a regular remote control, except, you know, it can shoot lasers now.

Gumball lunged for the remote, by Rob stopped him with a quick punch to the stomach. Dropping to the ground, The Ninja feels that strange feeling that followed him ever since he gained his powers:

That. Headache.

Not just a minor nuisance anymore, the ache strengthens harder than it ever has before! Realizing the headache is a serious problem, past an annoyance, the Ninja takes all his strength in his being just to stand again.

Rob and the Ninja spar ferociously, trading punches, kicks, and the occasional boink in the eyes. Finally through with toying with his enemy, Rob shoots another laser at the pained black-suited hero. The shot sends Gumball through the air down four blocks. Crashing down and rising, drowned with fatigue, the Ninja's headache becomes absolutely unbearable. Unable to take the sheer ripping pain, Gumball is brought to his knees, and lets out a ragged scream.

Worsening the pain beyond what seemed possible to the 12-year-old cat, something feels like it's pushing out his ear. What happened next was completely draining to Gumball, but out of his ear, another young blue cat materializes. Gumball pulls together what little strength remains in his essence to utter a tired-sounding, "Zach?"

The aforementioned boy that had miraculously come out of his former self declared, "I... Have... Returned!" After a short pause to survey what Elmore was like, he added, "And man, nothing's really changed!"

Battered mentally and physically, and shocked to see his own former self appear, the Ninja blurted out another question, "But... *ergh...* How come you still exist? You disappeared when my true name became Gumball!"

Zach returns with a small, mean chuckle, "You know, no matter what your name is, I'll always still be here, in some form. I am your true self, before your stupid nickname became your real one."

Grunting in pain and attempting to stand, Gumball responds, "I've moved on. I've always been Gumball. You... You should've never taken over. This is who I really am. I have powers, something you never had."

"Yeah?" Zach pushes the weak Ninja back to the pavement, "You're weak!"

"Well, I've been punching bank robbers for like, forever now."

"You're weak right now!"

"'Cause I've gone through a lot recently. Namely three punches in the face and a magic laser."

"Never mind weakness... But yes, I know what's happened. That bolt? The one that gave you powers? That jolted me back. I was that ache, the real you, the one that should've stayed, I was trying to escape, to get payback for replacing me with your dumb nickname!"

Finally managing to stand, but barely ready to fight his old self, Gumball shouted, "It's my real name!"

What happened next was a furious fistfight between the two blue cats. the Ninja, tired as he was, landed a few blows to Zach, but the latter held his ground. As the fight continued, Zach spied someone on a roof of the miniscule, empty warzone that had sprouted in the alley the two enemies had subconsciously gone into in the course of their fight, "Looks like you have a shadow!"

Gumball was at this point, was too mentally fatigued to even consider this a trick. Turning his eyes to the rooftop, the Ninja spotted a black masked person, _"Penny."_

Using the distraction to his advantage, Zach delivered a savage kick to Gumball as he faced his opponent again. The Ninja brought his face to meet the feline foot, and was finally pit out of commission. As his old self turned to meet the hazy figure of someone in the distance approaching, the world faded to black for Gumball, and he, at last, fell into unconsciousness...

 _That's all for this chapter! Pretty intense, huh? I hope you're enjoying this series and are on edge for what's next! Sorry this took a while, but I'll try to get the next chapter by the end of the month. If it takes longer, I'll post the delay on my profile. But I'll churn out more, and the next part of the Gumdrop story will come too. Bye, for now!_ _-G.W._


	6. Chapter 5-The Grieving

_Hi again! this is the final chapter to season 1, but I will eventually make a second season. I hope the last one was surprising, and I have ideas for down the road. So anyway, here's the story!_

Chapter 5-The Grieving

Light.

Light coming through a window awakened Gumball from his much needed slumber. As consciousness returned to him, he realized a relieving thought, _"I'm not dead!!"_ The calmed feeling dried up with the heat of the next realization, _"Someone knows."_ Throwing off the blankets on him, Gumball now knew that he was wearing his regular sweater. Fortunately, a test to see if his suit would form was successful. But that small hope was dashed away, school was today. Hoping he wasn't late, Gumball rushed down the stairs, going a little faster than he would've liked, fearing someone would get suspicious of his powers.

Hurrying to eat breakfast, all the usual morning procedures ran their course, but where rushed by the arrival of the bus. Figuring he had slept in, Gumball boarded the vehicle with his siblings. On the bus, he speculated on who or what transported him back home, the obvious suspect being whoever the masked creature on the roof was.

 _A few hours later..._

It was the last class until lunchtime, Gumball had been presented with pictures captured by the other kids of their hero, the Ninja. While Gumball would've internally been grateful for the recognition, worry about Zach's reappearance, Rob still being on the loose, and the mystery person, clouded out the joy. Darwin was still obsessing about the Ninja. Penny was appearently still on the case of finding out rhe Ninja's true identity, rattling off some theeories, but Gumball's worries were too big for him to really pay attention.

Ms. Simian was droning on about another dull math concept, when a black, chaotic, swirling hole appeared in the sky! An image of Rob appeared in the classroom, and everywhere in Elmore with a large group, it spoke, "Hello again, Ninja. I'm coming to you from the Food n' Stuff. If you don't come here, the precious empty carbs that keep Elmore running... Gone. For real. You have until noon."

Ms. Simian, despite all her grumpiness and agitated attitude about everything, seemed to finally show fear, "Aaaahhhh!! He's gonna blow the Food n' Stuff!"

Tobias shrieked, "How will we fill up on cholesterol without the store?!?"

In the school, and all around Elmore, chaos overtook nearly all the citizens. Everyone started panicking and running for cover, except for Gumball. Using the chaos to his advantage, and hoping no one took notice, he scurried out to meet his enemy.

 _Ten minutes later..._

Gumball had once again willed the magical suit around himself, and arrived at the Food n' Stuff. The black hole still loomed menacingly above the store, and inside said hole was not only Rob, but Zach. Apparently teamed with Rob, Zach called for Gumball by his alias, the Ninja. Somewhat confused by the fact his alternate self hadn't revealed his identity even though he had the chance, the Ninja jumped off a few nearby buildings to gain altitude, and stopped just a little short of the portal. "I'm here!" he said.

"Come in." Rob invited mysteriously, "I have something to show you."

With a deep sigh with a tinge of fear, the mentally, and physically underprepared Ninja stepped in to the other world.

Floating slightly upwards alongside his enemies, the Ninja realized the strange place as the Void. The void was a mysterious, dark realm filled with what seemed to be TV static, random clusters of things from somewhere, and a strange, dark-looking, pitch-black void, seeming to seethe with sinister, consuming energy. "What did you bring me here for?" inquired Gumball.

Rob answered, "This."

With that, he pressed a button on the remote, and a life-sized rectangular screen appeared. Rob added, "Watch.

Something began playing on the screen, Gumball suspected this was some trick, but his suspicion disappeared, as he became mesmerized by what happened in the weird show before his masked eyes.

On the screen, a song played, it was the theme song to The Amazing World of Gumball (Gumball was somewhat aware that he was in a TV world, but not that there was a show focusing on him). The show started with a whimsical opening, but the title quickly put away any trace of happiness in the show, the episode was named: 'The Grieving.' It started somewhat innocently, but problems began forming in the plot, and Elmore became a run-down wasteland over the course of the episode. In the show, the Watterson's and the rest of Elmore realized their show was cancelled, and there was no way to escape the end of their show's run. Even worse, Gumball caused the cancellation, which led the townsfolk to chase the desperate cat. His family initially helped him escape the mob, but even they soon sided with the angry town. As darkness enveloped Elmore, the citizens were trying to catch Gumball who had taken refuge on top of the Chanax building, the tallest building in town. The black overtook all the angry people and the fearful Gumball, finally ending Elmore and it's inhabitants, with Gumball to blame, just as he usually got the city into a jam.

Stricken with grief, Gumball listened to Rob shout with a mean sneer, "You see that?!? That's what your world becomes!"

Deeply disturbed that what he had seen was to be his end, the Ninja asked, voice cracking a little, "How?"

Rob waved his precious remote, "This remote, I used it to make that episode. Elmore, your town, your family, it all gets eaten up, because of you."

"But why?? Why not let this play out with me knowing?"

Zach chuckled, "An end like this? Oh, we don't want this to be too sudden. Your whole show goes down, and we want you to see it coming."

Angry, bitter, and with small tears flowing now, Gumball put out another question, "And what happens to you?"

"We can find another show. A show where we'll be the heroes, and you will be gone! The show you watched? It'll run it's course in about, oh, thirty seconds."

Finally pushed to his breaking point, Gumball quickly laid out an idea to end the impending doom before it began. He figured that if the remote was broken or powered off, it could somehow prevent the terrible end he would otherwise soon meet. It was very shaky logic, but being tired out in nearly all fronts, Gumball took the chance.

Pushing off of thin air, the Ninja reached furiously for the remote. Rob was caught off guard, but managed to push his opponent down towards the black energy void. "I got him." Zach said as he dove to retrieve the remote. Punches were exchanged by the Ninja and his troublesome counterpart, and they fell further through the Void to the black energy. With Zach on top of the bruised Ninja, he took little hurt from the pitch-black matter. For the Ninja however, the pain, emotional, physical, and pain from the strange energy, was becoming too much to bear. The weird substance seared, it's dark energy wrapping around Gumball and tearing him apart. Not physically tearing, no, this was a mental attack, seeping into Gumball's mind, polluting his thoughts and tearing through his mind. Zach primed his fist to strike a final blow, but the pain that inflicticted Gumball pushed him beyond anything he could take.

Gumball pushed up with ragged fury, away from the harrowing experience of pain from he mysterious black energy, and he punched Zach out of the way of his escape. The Ninja, still with the remote, ripped out the batteries of the remote and powered down the powerful stick, permanently, by also throwing the remote into the black mass. The black energy destroyed the mysterious gadget, beginning the Void's destruction.

Rob cried out, "Noooo!!!" Zach's eyes practically popped in shock to express his dismay. The Void began to crumble, reality inside the strange world was falling apart! Portals appeared all around the Void, evidently all the other worlds the Void could lead to, everything in the weird realm was going haywire! A convenient portal back to Elmore appeared, and Gumball still furiously fought to the escape. Rob and Zach followed, but they seemed to be too far behind to catch up.

Rob, finally giving up on his quest against Gumball, decided to end his wat against the blue cat. Noticing a nearby portal to what seemed like another world, Rob quickly made it to safety. Inside the new show, which was just starting an episode, Rob thought himself safe. An announcer with a squeaky, irritating voice announced, "Hi kids! Welcome to Happy Play World!" Rob looked around at all the humongous characters that didn't seem to like him, and also noticed the annoying little characters who likely had high-pitched voices. Rob shouted in defeat, "Noooooo!!!" The characters gathered around him to annoy him, and Rob sighed, preparing himself to try and adapt tomthe much more tame, boring place he found himself in.

And Zach and Gumball? Gumball had nearly reached the portal back home, when Zach followed! Shaking away the other self, Gumball finally returned to Elmore. The Ninja had made it back to Elmore, with no sign of Zach nearby (though Gumball was too tired to try and confirm that).

As he popped back to Elmore, the world lost the facade it was, and became real! With no spooky Void lying beneath. The townspeople were relieved, and cheered for their local hero, the Ninja! The town of Elmore was safe from Rob and Zach, for the time being.

 _Hi! I hope you liked the story so far, but there's an epilogue to the season. I will put that out soon, and then I can move to my Gumdrop story and/or other stories (Season 2 of The Ninja). So, yeah. Leave a review, and check out my profile if yoy like (that's where I have a bunch of ideas for new stories, PM me if you an idea you like)!_

-G.W.


	7. Epilogue-The Reveal

_Hello again! This is the epilogue and end to Season 1. Enjoy!_

EPILOGUE: THE REVEAL

The Ninja was returning to Elmore! From the air! This would sound cool, and it would've been, except for the fact the Ninja was plummeting to the ground badly hurt. As he fell towards his hometown, Gumball barely tried to stick a landing that'd leave him living. _"It's no use. I'm too injured. I finally did something with myself. But there's nothing I can do to stop this fall."_ Gumball solemnly stayed the course of his drop, seeing no way out of the inevitable. But after a pause, he thought again, _"Well okay, staying alive would be nice."_ Fortunately for the cat, a convenient awning later, and he was safely on the ground, and near his house too!

Gumball, still in his costume, walked tiredly to the front door of his home. He planned to do what he should have done earlier since he began his superheroing.

He was going to show them.

After what he had been through, a lightning bolt, fighting crooks, Rob's near end to Elmore, Zach's return, opinions from them, all taken alone by him. While he had accomplished an amazing feat of not being driven crazy by all that happened, he barely managed to endure it all. Having his family know what he had become meant help from them and understanding about why he had been absent from them for a while. Even though he felt he would lose some degree of independence, Gumball knew it was a small price to pay for his kindred's support.

Inside the Watterson house, the four other members of the family were gathered in their living room. They had gathered there when they found out about Rob's threat. Now they thought the coast was clear, but were worried that Gumball was nowhere to be found.

Peering into the abode, Gumball saw Mr. Dad end a phone call, the purpose of which was to inquire to someone about his eldest son's whereabouts. Mrs. Mom was talking to Darwin and Anais to not worry, and that their brother would turn up.

Seeing their concern for him playing out was comforting to Gumball, but now he was to show them his alter ego. As the Wattersons were still inside worrying, the front door opened with a small creak, as if to announce the arrival. Everyone turned their attention to the sudden entrance. Standing just inside the house, was a black and blue-costumed cat, tired and beat up. The four Wattersons stared in confusion at the local hero's appearence. Mr. Dad broke the weird silence, "Just who are you, mister??"

The Ninja finally gave the reveal, "There's something I need to show you." Ending that sentence, the threads of the Ninja's costume unraveled, revealing a familiar brown and tan sweater, and the battered blue face of a certain cat they knew. Mr. Dad, Mrs. Mom, Darwin, and Anais all stood surprised, they now knew their son and brother, the notorious troublemaker of Elmore, a student, the beginner of a thousand disasters and adventures, Gumball Watterson, was the Ninja.

 _That's Season 1! I hope you liked it. I will eventually will make Season 2 of this, in which I (hope I) will show more of Penny's quest to know the Ninja, and other characters. I also hope to have some more scenes of Gumball's life besides fighting bad guys, like his relations with his family now that they know who he is. If you want Season 2 out real fast, PM me and/or say so in the reviews, or if you want other stories like The Amazing World of Gumdrop and Peter or other stories (check my profile for ideas), tell me by PM and/or review._

-G.W.


End file.
